Polypropylene processing data

The monomer consumption data of the HDPE process is slightly different for the polypropylene process due to variable purity of the monomer raw material used by polypropylene plants. 

From this relatively simple test, therefore, it is possible to obtain complete flow data on the material as shown in Fig. 5.3. Note that shear rates similar to those experienced in processing equipment can be achieved. Variations in melt temperature and hypostatic pressure also have an effect on the shear and tensile viscosities of the melt. An increase in temperature causes a decrease in viscosity and an increase in hydrostatic pressure causes an increase in viscosity. Topically, for low density polyethlyene an increase in temperature of 40°C causes a vertical shift of the viscosity curve by a factor of about 3. Since the plastic will be subjected to a temperature rise when it is forced through the die, it is usually worthwhile to check (by means of Equation 5.64) whether or not this is signiflcant. Fig. 5.2 shows the effect of temperature on the viscosity of polypropylene. 

By permission, Norton Chemical Process Products Corp., Bull. SI-72 and Bull. PTP-1 other manufacturer s data are equivalent, f Also available in polypropylene (including glass reinforced) high density polyethylene, rigid PVC, fluorinated vinyls. 

During processing polypropylene melts under the action of transverse strain there occur strain-chemical conversions which can result in both decrease and increase in their molecular masses the mechanical effect on the rapidity and level of the occurring processes is considerably more prominent than the mere contribution of thermal and thermal-oxidative breakdown. These data necessitate studying the process of polymer destruction. For this purpose it would be most effective to apply the criterion of assessment of the intensity with which destructive processes happen in polymer melts. 

Analyzing the data obtained when testing the samples of extrusion products made of polypropylene, the conducted research on their molecular-weight properties, and the calculated values of the criterion for the destruction processes rate, we concluded that the processes of attachment and bifurcation correspond to the values of ] = 1, while the processes of destruction correspond to 1 = - 1. 

For syndiotactic polypropylene the symmetric Bernoulli trial, expressed in m and r dyads, is quite adequate for the representation of experimental data, and agrees with the stereochemical control being exerted by the growing chain end (145, 409). In its turn, atactic polypropylene is considered as a mixture of the products of two superposed processes, of the type discussed for isotactic and syndiotactic polymers, and is described by a simplified two-state model (145). 

Carbon dioxide gas was used as a physical blowing agent to produce medium density polypropylene foam sheets using a single screw extruder. The mechanical properties of the foam were similar in the machine direction and in the transverse direction. Abetter surface finish and a lower density was produced by using a commercial wrapping film as a cap layer. The process conditions and the die design data are presented and an attempt made to relate them to the product characteristics. 4 refs. 

Figure 14.11. The average length of fiber prior to and after processing in glass fiber filled polypropylene. [Data from Averous L, Quantin J C, Lafon D, Crespy A, Int. J. Polym. Analysis and Characterization, 1, No.4, 1995, 339-47.1...

In preliminary work (19), divinylbenzene (DVB) has been reported to be a useful additive for enhancing the above grafting reactions. These early data (19) indicate that there are possible common mechanistic pathways between the acid effect and the DVB process. More detailed DVB studies are discussed in this paper for enhancing the radiation grafting yields of styrene in methanol to films of polyethylene and polypropylene. The work has been extended to include the use of other polyfunctional monomers such as tri-methylol propane triacrylate (TMPTA) as additives. The possibility of being able to use these additives for copolymerisation of monomers to naturally occurring trunk polymers such as cellulose will also be considered. 

---